Butkovich to retire after long tenure in Illinois athletics

Friday

Sep 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2007 at 2:39 PM

The first girls varsity basketball and softball coach at Peoria Richwoods High School before serving as an administrator at the Illinois High School Association, Cindy Butkovich will retire after 19 years as an administrative secretary with the University of Illinois football and basketball programs.

John Supinie

The buzzer sounds an end to a long career in athletics for Cindy Butkovich Friday.

The first girls varsity basketball and softball coach at Peoria Richwoods High School before serving as an administrator at the Illinois High School Association, Butkovich will retire after 19 years as an administrative secretary with the University of Illinois football and basketball programs.

Butkovich worked in the basketball office for the last 11 seasons under coaches Bruce Weber, Bill Self and Lon Kruger.

"I'm ready to change the schedule a little bit,'' Butkovich said.”I've been in sports my whole life. I was a participant and coached it in high school, worked in the high school association. I felt like I had a lot of experiences down the line.

“It's not like I came in here (at the Illinois basketball office) and it was a whole new life for me.

"I'd been around coaches and sports. It was another chapter.''

The Richwoods graduate received varsity letters in basketball and softball at Illinois State, where she earned two degrees. Butkovich later spent eight years as a Richwoods teacher and began the varsity girls basketball and softball programs in 1974.

In 1975, she joined the IHSA at a time when girls sports were getting started.

"I'm proud to say I conducted the first girls state basketball finals,'' Butkovich said. “That was my project. That was kind of exciting to be on the ground floor. When I was a high school student, we didn't have girls interscholastic competition.''

Butkovich was the second female hired as an administrator by the IHSA and coordinated the first girls state basketball tournament in the 1976-77 school year.

Marriage later took her to Tuscola. After working in private business, Butkovich joined the Illinois football office as an assistant in the recruiting office. She moved to the basketball office for the 1996-97 season, Kruger's first year as Illini coach.

"My dream when I was in college and after I got out was to be a college athletic director,'' Butkovich said. “Because of marrying and moving down here, I had to change course a little bit. I felt very fortunate to get back into sports.”

Butkovich still swaps e-mails with Self and keeps up with Kruger.

"All of them have been great,'' she said.”I can't choose one over another. They've all been different personalities, but they've all been good to me.”

By the time Weber was hired, Butkovich was experienced in coaching transitions.

"The biggest thing was she knew her way around here,'' Weber said.”She had been in the department in several positions. She knew the ins and outs, so she helped tremendously in the transition.

"She had been a coach, so she knew some of what we were going through.''

Butkovich, 61, lives in Champaign with her long-time companion, Pete Fernandes. You can now find her at the golf course.

John Supinie can be reached at Johnsupinie@aol.com. For more Illini coverage, read Illini Talk blog at www.sj-r.com and www.pjstar.com.